ORIGIN STORY
2014
April
September
October
2015
January
June
October
2016
2017
2018
February
June
October
2019
January
June
July
October
2020
January
March
May
September
2021
June
October
November
2022
January
March
April
December
Orange Hat Film Productions was established by two Fanshawe College Alumni of the Advanced Filmmaking program, Darryl Ayles and Jamara Forbes. From the beginning, co-founder Darryl Ayles of OHFP has helped shape the London, ON film community by involving many facets of the independent creative landscape to take part in his productions.
Beginning with the short film “Conscious” that premiered at the Hamilton Music and Film Festival in Fall 2014; Darryl, Jamara, and family all attended the festival screening in Hamilton, ON.
Darryl was involved in the production of a local feature film. Itching to create something else on his own accord, Darryl then began development and pre-production on the project that would set the bar for OHFP.
In 2015 the production and release of the web-series “Look What You Have Become” was a giant success and step in the direction of widening their film network.
Co-founder Jamara Forbes stepped in as the creative force behind the web-series heading the Art Department and captaining the ship as Production Manager.
The web-series began filming throughout the summer.
Editing overlapped with filming, so post-production was well underway as the final seasons of the series were continuing to be filmed.
On October15th the web-series LWYHB debuted on YouTube and after that weekly episodes were released on Wednesday nights over the next few months as later seasons continued to be filmed.
LWYHB Season 1 Premiere
“Look What You Have Become” created a small buzz, was released as a novella and premiered locally at the Bete Noire Soiree the end of the month.
Friends, family, and fellow filmmakers, artists, actors, producers and more gathered for complementary food, drink and live art for the evening.
Following the screening of the 1 hour compilation of episodes from LWYB season 1, Darryl and Jamara were able to answer audience questions in a Q & A.
The web-series continued to release weekly on YouTube until the bittersweet finale.
It was on this project that OHFP first collaborated with Negative Underground Society; the visual effects company assisted with the series finale episode “Awake Part 2.”
After having completed this large project,OHFP took a well deserved break from filming and focused mainly on screenwriting, development, and pre-production of other collaborative projects.
A script of about 116 pages was developed in this time.
Assigning key crew, solidifying delivery methods, and determining special effects early on helped OHFP to stay organized throughout the pre-production process. Eventually all the ducks were in their rows after gathering supplies, purchasing equipment, and constantly revising the shooting script.
Finally it was time for auditions for what was planned to be the very first feature length film project.
Principal photography began in June and continued until the early fall, filming on weekends only to accomodate the busy Summer schedules of actors and crew.
Post production took place in Toronto, ON executed by Christian Mitchell, a fellow graduate of the Advanced Filmmaking program at Fanshawe College. The project was edited on Adobe Premiere through the creative cloud to allow for collaborative editing on multiple adobe programs.
The film went through multiple rough cut and fine cut stages to achieve the intended finished product.
After a picture lock was established in the early Summer, Christian sent the film forward to Negative Underground Society in Guelph, ON.
Special Effects were completed by Zachary Litt with supplementary work completed by Tad Brock of Auteur Independent Films out of Petrolia, ON.
In the midst of post production of “.44” OHFP partnered with Auteur Independent Films to produce and film a feature length project over 7 days in Petrolia, ON entited “Vent.” With a small cast and skeleton crew, the film was 95% shot after the week of shooting and the next project was well underway. This feature film was written and directed by Tad Brock. Principal photography began in July 2019 and is continued into fall.
Finally the feature film was complete.
“.44” World Premiere at Western Films on Saturday October 19th 2019
The world premiere screening for “.44” took place at the Western Film theatre at the University of Western Ontario campus on Saturday October 19th, 2019 at 1:30pm.
Arriving around 1pm, friends, family, crew, and cast came together to enjoy refreshments and the premiere screening of “.44” on the big screen. The screening took place from 1:30-3:30pm and was followed by a Question & Answer session lead by Writer/Director Darryl Ayles.
The projection, seating, and concession were all fantastic.
Response to the event was overwhelming, contributing to the first box office revenues for the film and OHFP as a company. Following the screening, physical copies were available to take home on Blu-Ray disc for the first time at this event. Roughly 60 people attended and 25 Blu-Rays were sold on that first day.
Darryl Ayles announced the name of the next Orange Hat Film Productions project is entitled “Vent” from Auteur Independent Films. This was exposed after the question was posed in the Q&A session to the reference of a billboard shown briefly in an opening scene of “.44.”
Jamara Forbes lead the post production of the project “Vent” as picture editor.
The film .44 had its Guelph, ON premiere on March 6th at the Red Papaya featuring musical acts from Grody Bedroom Sessions artists.
Hosted by Rick Hall, the event was a success. Opening with an Evan Vander Woude acoustic set, the film was screened on a projector while the audience enjoyed the Papaya’s Thai cuisine. Darryl Ayles, director, then did a Question & Answer session while Mac N’ Sleeze set up and ended the night with some catchy tunes.
Adapting to the current state of emergency, OHFP hosted an Instagram Live video night to interview and chat with fellow cast and crew from the feature film .44. Lead by Darryl Ayles, this night of industry discussion and spoiler talk featured Tad Brock, Cody McDermid, Angelique LeBlanc, Lana King, and Christian Mitchell.
You can watch now on IGTV
Currently in Principal photography for the latest feature film titled “Door Into Darkness.” A supernatural drama written and directed by Darryl Ayles based on a short story podcast by Richard Wayne Anderson called “Door In The Woods.”
Principal photography for Door into Darkness pickups continued into October, as the crew returned to Petrolia, ON to get remaining shots of the forest. Final shots have been placed into the film and final sound mix and colour grade are complete.
Door Into Darkness has reached the stage of picture lock.
On October 30th, 2021 Tad Brock premiered his directorial debut “Vent” on Vimeo Pro for a limited time rental. The initial response has been positive and the comedy seems to be hitting home with audiences worldwide.
Recently featured on a YouTube series hosted by Justin Smith, both Vent and .44 received glowing reviews. Watch the reviews here:
We are ringing in the 2022 New Year with a fresh change; the reveal of the updated company logo.
Recently announced are two new feature films that are set to go into production in 2023 and 2024.
Door into Darkness begins it’s marketing and distribution phase. A poster has been created and plans for festivals and theatrical release are underway.
Principal photography begins for new feature film T.A.S. starring Angelique LeBlanc and Brent Baird. filming takes place in Petrolia, ON.
After two long years of waiting Door Into Darkness has a theatrical debut at the local Hyland Cinema! We were beyond excited to have our premiere screening at a beloved hometown theatre.
With nearly 70 in attendance, the film was well received by the audience and was spectacularly displayed on the Hyland big screen. Many members of the cast, crew, and friends were able to attend as well as fans of the independent filmmaking scene.
We are proud to show support to one of the oldest theatres in the area.
Following the film was a crew Q&A where many audience members stayed behind to participate in. We look forward to what else is to come with this film in the new year.
You can watch the Q&A on YouTube now! (Spoiler Warning)
